This invention relates to a tape reel, and particularly to a reel for storing magnetic tape such as is used with computers.
Magnetic tape reels in the prior art have generally comprised either a metallic hub with spaced flanges of metal or plastic attached thereto, or an all-plastic reel having both a plastic hub and plastic flanges attached thereto.
Prior art metallic reels have suffered several disadvantages, the principal one being the high cost of manufacture, both in the material and labor costs. Additionally, the metal hubs, such as used on the reel of Perlini U.S. Pat. No. 3,088,689, have a substantially different coefficient of thermal expansion from that of the tape and may cause stretching of the tape if the tape and reel are exposed to low temperatures.
Such high costs of manufacture have been overcome to a large extent by the use of synthetic resins or plastics for both the reel hub and its flanges. However, most of the prior art plastic reels have suffered numerous problems of their own. The primary problem of plastic reels has related to the inability of the plastic hub to withstand the compressive forces imparted to the hub by the wound tape. More particularly, the problem has come from the inability of the rim upon which the tape is wound to withstand these compressive forces. One new type of reel addressing this problem has been made the subject of a patent application on a reel for magnetic recording tape, Ser. No. 728,503, now abandoned, in the name of Anil Vasudeva and Don W. Geri, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. However, it is believed that even the reel of that prior application may experience some difficulties in the manufacturing process.